Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard carved up the Spurs like a ball-handling butcher, exposing a potentially fatal flaw in a team expected to compete for an NBA title.

Lillard dropped 36 points on 12-of-22 shooting in Portland’s 110-106 win, the 45th instance of a guard scoring at least 20 against the Spurs. His backcourt mate, C.J. McCollum, also poured in 26.

In 21 of those 20-point games, the guard added at least five assists.

"Lillard and McCollum were super," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They executed their offense great. We just didn't guard them the way we needed to.”

This inability to slow down opposing guards is the exposed Achilles heel on an otherwise stout defensive team.

Though the Spurs may not encounter Lillard in the postseason, they will be unable to escape the rest of the West’s dangerous crop of guards.

The path to the Finals is a nightmarish trail filled with MVP candidates and future Hall of Famers and one guy that might actually be an extraterrestrial.

If the first round began today, the Spurs would face Memphis and $152 million man Mike Conley. The reward for advancing: a meeting with either Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook or Houston’s James Harden. Defeating one of those two could set up a conference finals clash with Golden State’s Stephen Curry or Los Angeles’ Chris Paul.

The only Western Conference contenders lacking “elite” guard play are Utah – though George Hill has been exceptional when healthy – and the Spurs.

Offensively, Tony Parker has transitioned nicely into his role as a veteran game manager, providing the Spurs with on-court leadership and occasional scoring outbursts when necessary.

But Parker never locked down at an All-Defensive level even in his heyday. Now, age and injuries have conspired to make life even more difficult for the 34-year-old in this golden age of guards.

The Spurs’ other point guard options – Patty Mill and Dejounte Murray – have defensive deficiencies of their own (size for Mills, inexperience for Murray), but an overall inability to stop the league's better guards is an indictment of the entire team.

Of course, Popovich can sic Danny Green or even Kawhi Leonard on someone as dangerous as Curry or Harden when possible, hiding Parker on a less strenuous assignment. But the NBA is not a one-on-one league; it takes five minds and bodies working in unison to stop a Westbrook pick-and-roll.

So, how can the Spurs halt – or at least slow – someone like OKC’s triple-double maven?

“As a team,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “(Westbrook’s) not the type of player where you’re going to rely on somebody to stop him. It’s got to be a team effort. The rotation has to be there. Everybody has to run back in transition, show him a crowd, make him take contested shots.”

The Spurs surrender 1.04 points per possession to the roll man, 16th in the league. They fare better against the ball handler, ranking 10th with 0.83 points allowed per possession, though the upper echelon guards have been able to navigate the Spurs’ pick-and-roll defense without too much trouble.

“You always want to shoot well from the line, or the field, or from three, but that’s not what wins and loses the games for you most of the time,” Popovich said. “You’ve got to come out and you’ve got to stop people.”